4 3 2 1 May
by literaryformofthelastcentury
Summary: 1981: Dixie and Kel have been married for a little over a year. Big things in store! Sequel to my fanfic 7 Years Coming
1. Chapter 1

_Of course, I do not own the Emergency! characters. I'm just borrowing them for a while, and having some fun. All credit goes to Jack Webb, R.A. Cinader, and Universal Studios. I hope you enjoy!_

 _I realize that, to some, this story may seem implausible or even impossible, but it is fiction, after all. Please no hate comments. Also, from a medical standpoint, it is not impossible. According to the timeline of the show (_ _not_ _Julie London's actual life), Dixie would have been 39 years old in 1981._

* * *

Chapter 0:

 _You are invited to a baby shower! Come speculate and celebrate the arrival of baby Brackett. 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 31st, at the Desotos' home, 1726 Walton St. Gifts are welcome but not necessary. Please remember that this is a surprise; don't let Dixie and Kel in on the secret!_

 _R.S.V.P. to Joanne at 483.9376_

* * *

Chapter 1: May

 _Thursday, January 29th, 1981_

"Hey Dix," Roy Desoto addresses Rampart Emergency's head nurse, "you and Kel are coming over on Saturday, right?"

"Yeah," she replies. "Joanne called me last night. Anything special planned?"

"Oh, no," he answers, trying to be subtle. "Jenny and Chris were asking about you two."

"Oh, really?" she asks, not quite convinced but not really suspicious either.

The alarm blares over his handie-talkie. "See you later, Dix," he says as he turns to leave.

"Saved by the bell," Roy mutters to himself as he jogs towards the exit.

Dixie watches them go, still a little confused by Roy's evasive answer. What was he doing there, anyway? He rarely ever stopped by Rampart when he was on shift anymore. Once he was promoted to captain, he had other things to do.

"Mrs. Brackett," one of Rampart's newer nurses, Kelly Cable, walks over to Dixie at the nurse's station. "Dr. Early needs some help in Treatment 3. He asked for you specifically."

"Thanks, Kelly," Dixie answers, heading for room 3.

She walks into the treatment room to find Joe Early, Mike Morton, and her husband all surrounding a small boy sitting on the exam table.

"What is going on?" she asks Joe, quietly.

He pulls her away from the exam table, over to a corner of the room. "He won't talk. His parents are here, but they speak very little English and we have no one on staff who speaks their language. He is in second grade, and, according to what I got from his parents, can speak English fairly well. But he won't talk."

"Well of course he won't!" Dixie exclaims under her breath. Now she knows why Joe asked for her. She has quite a history of getting even the shyest patients to speak. "How would you feel if you were surrounded by three big men, asking you questions in a language that was not your native one?"

"Huh," Joe sighs. "You're right once again, Dix. I hadn't even thought about that. Come on, guys," he says, motioning to Kel and Mike. "Let the lady work her magic."

They leave, though not fast enough to miss the eye roll that Dixie casts in Joe's direction.

"Numbskulls," she mutters to herself," 'didn't think about it', ha. Geez."

She shakes herself out of the mental tyrade and looks at the situation at hand, the small, dark-skinned boy sitting on the edge of the exam table. He catches her eye, but quickly looks away. She smiles slightly, and walks over to him.

"Hi," Dixie greets him, gently. "I'm Dixie. What's your name?"

"Mycah," comes the quiet reply.

Within minutes, Dixie has all the information the doctors need to treat the boy. She pokes her head out of the room, and motions Joe inside.

"Okay, Mycah," she says to the little boy. "This is Dr. Early. I'm going to tell him what you told me, and he's going to do all he can to make the pain go away. Is that okay?"

Mycah nods, looking at Joe curiously.

"What's that?" he asks softly, pointing at the stethescope around Joe's neck.

Dixie slips out of the room, smiling. She walks over to the nurse's station, where Mike and Kel are waiting.

"How _do_ you do that, Dix?" Mike is looking at her with a mixture of curiousity and jealousy on his face.

"She's special, this one," Kel says, wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders. She grabs his hands.

"Look at you two. Happily married, happy in your jobs, happy with a baby on the way. You guys are adorable. It disgusts me." With that, Mike turns and walks away.

Dixie turns to look over her shoulder at Kel. Their eyes meet, and they crack up. She spins around in his arms, and hugs him. "I am happy, Kel," she says. "I'm excited about the baby."

"Me, too," he says. "Only a few more months."

"May," she replies.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Surprise

 _Saturday, January 31st, 1981 1:45pm_

 _The Brackett house_

"Come on, Kel!" Dixie calls to her husband. "If we want to get to the Desotos' on time, we need to leave SOON."

"Coming, coming," he answers, walking out of the bedroom. Dixie straightens his collar, then stands on her toes to give him a kiss. He smooths her hair and kisses her forehead, and wraps an arm around her waist and ever-growing belly as they walk out the front door.

* * *

 _The DeSoto house_

The house is filled with people. Joanne's a little overwhemled, but when she thinks of Dixie, and Kel, and how much they've done for Roy and the rest of his fireman family, she knows that it's worth it. Anyway, she's got lots of help. Joe Early is there, and Mike Morton. Several of Rampart's long-time nurses, the ones who still occasionally addressed Dixie as Miss McCall, are there as well. All of 51's former A-shift is there, of course. Besides Roy, they have Captain John Gage, Batallion Chief Hank Stanley, Captain Mike Stoker, Engineer Chet Kelly, and Engineer Marco Lopez. Hank and Mike's wives were there as well, ready and willing to help Joanne with whatever she needed.

"Okay, everyone!" Joanne calls to the room in general. Trying to get the full attention of 17 excited people is no easy task. "Dixie and Kel will be getting here any time. Roy, is everything set up?"

"Yep!" he replies, barely able to contain his excitement. And it's not even his party!

A couple of minute pass. Then they hear a car pull up in front of the house. Everyone, except for Joanne, runs into the kitchen to hide. The doorbell rings, and Joanne opens the door to find the two (three, really) guests of honor.

"Hi, guys!" Joanne says, a little too cheerily.

"Hey, Joanne," Kel replies. "Where's the rest of your family?"

"Kitchen," she answers. She turns, and they follow. The three of them walk towards the kitchen. Joanne opens the door, and everything is revealed.

"Surprise!" shouts everyone. Dixie is speechless, struggling to take it all in.

"This looks like a few more than just your family, Joanne," Kel says drily.

"Yeah, I suppose," she says, smiling sheepishly.

Then Dixie realizes that all of the streamers are blue and pink, and that there is a pile of gifts in baby wrapping paper sitting on the table.

"Oh, Joanne, Roy," she says, "you guys shouldn't have done this."

"We had to!" Roy exclaims. "You really thought we weren't going to make a big deal out of the fact that you're pregnant?"

"I was kinda hoping, yeah," is her reply.

"Sorry," Johnny takes over for Roy, grinning as usual. "Honestly, Dix, I thought you knew us better than that."

She rolls her eyes, but everyone sees the smile begining to form on her face.

"Alright, everyone," Hank Stanley speaks up. "Let's do this!"

* * *

 _Later, about 7:30_

Dixie and Kel walk into their house, exausted but very happy. The shower was wonderful, and they got many baby gifts. Everyone was voicing their opinion on the sex of the baby, and they were mostly split. Dixie, for one, didn't care. Kel, on the other hand, was hoping for a daughter.

 _To be continued..._

* * *

 _Thank you for reading so far! I hope you're enjoying it. I don't know how soon I will be able to post the next chapter, but I'll put it out ASAP._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Where's The Fire?

 _April 1981_

As of April 20th, Dixie is on maternity leave. Kel wanted no risk of the baby coming early, so...

Dixie's not very happy about it, but she was arguing 1-on-4, since Joanne, Joe Early, and her OB all share Kel's view. The baby is due May 13th, and Dixie is as bored as can be waiting. She's doing all she can to keep busy, but there's only so much she can do.

As May approaches, Dixie finds herself growing more and more apprehensive. Excited, of course, but nervous as heck. Her, a mother?

 _May 14th, 1981_

Kel leaves for Rampart at 6:30. wanting to arrive early for his 7:00 shift. He does his best to keep quiet in the morning, and let Dixie sleep, but he usually fails. Such as it is this morning. Dixie wakes up at 6:00, when Kel is in the kitchen. She stays in bed, though, and feigns sleep when he comes back into the bedroom. He always feels bad when he realizes he woke her up, and she usually tries to spare him that guilt.

At 7:15. Dixie gets up and gets dressed. She makes herself some eggs and cleans up, trying to keep herself busy. The dishes are put away quickly, too quickly. There's not much else for her to do. She winds up finding the book she was reading the night before, and settles on the couch to continue it.

It's nearly 9:00 when she feels the first contraction. Keeping her promise to notify Kel as soon as the labor started, she walks to the phone and calls Rampart.

"Rampart Emergency, Miss Cable speaking," Kelly picks up the phone.

"Kelly," Dixie says, breathlessly, "find Dr. Brackett for me."

"Right away, Mrs. Brackett," she answers, concern in her voice. Lucky for her, Kel is right outside the base station, looking at a case file. Kelly pokes her head out. "Dr. Brackett," she calls, "Your wife is on the phone."

Kel leaps up and hurries into the base station, almost knocking Kelly over in the process.

"Dix," he picks up the phone. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replies, "but the baby is ocming."

"I'm on my way," he says, and hangs up the phone.

He heads out of the base station and down the hallway. So intent on reaching his car and his wife, he almost runs into Joe Early.

"Whoa, Kel," Joe is rather startled. "Where's the fire?"

"My house, Joe," Kel responds. "Dixie's in labor."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Almost There

 _Later_

20 minutes later, Kel pulls into his driveway. He throws open the car door and runs for the house. He runs into the door, painfully remembering that he had locked it when he left. He pulls his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door.

Dixie is pacing the floor, back and forth. She's had another contraction, 25 minutes after the first one. She turns to the door when she hears Kel's key in the lock. He suceeds in opening the door, this time. He comes in and hurries over to her.

"I'm fine, Kel," she say by way of a greeting, slightly exasperated.

"Come on," he says, much too excited. "We're going to Rampart."

Giving him one of her signature eye rolls, Dixie allows him to lead her out to the car. On the way out, he grabs the suitcase that he packed two weeks ago and stashed in the coat closet. Dixie notices, and shakes her head with a smile.

He throws the suitcase in the back seat, and opens the passenger side door. She climbs in, slowly, but refusing Kel's assistance. Giving up, he walks around the front of the car and climbs into the driver's seat.

"Kel," Dixie sighs. She's the one in labor, and yet she's much calmer than her usually-unflappable husband. "You're an ER doctor, for God's sake. One of the best doctors in the country. Why are you freaking out."

"Dix," he says, "this is not some medical emergency like a cardiac arrest. You are MY wife, this is MY child, and this is NOT my field of expertise."

She keeps talking, trying to reason with him, until another contraction hits and she can no longer find the words.

"Are you keeping track?!" Kel practically screams.

"20...minutes," she replies, breatless from the pain.

"We're almost there, Dix," he says, calmer now. "Almost there." His voice drops to a whisper. He is finally begining to realize what it all means. This is real. He, Kelly Joseph Brackett, is going to be a father.

* * *

They pull into Rampart's main parking lot. Kel helps Dixie out of thw car and over to the main entrance. They walk through the big double doors, and he calls for a wheel chair. The entryway of the main hospital is huge compared to the ER that they are both used to. A nurse, unfamiliar to the two of them, comes over with a wheelchair. When they see Joe Early walking towards them, they both sigh.

"I called your OB, Dix," Joe says. "He'll be here any minute."

"Thanks, Joe," she replies, settling into the chair.

Joe and Kel wheel her to the elevator and get her into a room. Then Joe has to return to Emergency. They're already short a doctor since Kel had to leave.

"Thanks so much, Joe," Kel nods to his best friend.

"Sure thing," Joe smiles. "Come get me when the baby is born."

"Oh, he will," Dixie says, teasing.

After another contraction, Dixie's OB arrives. No sooner had Kel and the doctor gotten her into a gown and settled, another contraction forced her water to break.

After that, the contractions were very frequent and they got her to a delivery room quickly. Kel scrubbed in so he could stay with her.

"Almost there, Dix" he whispers in her ear as she lies on the gurney. "Almost there."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

 _Around 4:00, May 14th, 1981_

Dixie thought she was going to pass out from the pain. As much as it hurts, she keeps pushing, pushing, until the pain eases. She gave what she thought would be the final push, and was disappointed. The pain eased for a minute, then she kept pushing. Kel came up towards her head, grabbing her hand. As she gave what was really the final push, he leaned down and kissed her.

"Twins, Dix," he said excitedly. "Twins!"

"What were you hoping for, Mrs. Brackett?" the attending nurse asked, smiling.

"Kel wanted a girl," she said softly, tired but happy.

"Well," the nurse said, "You got your wish, Dr. Brackett, and more. One of each!"

Dixie was smiling wider than she'd ever smiled before. "Two babies, Kel. Two babies. A boy and a girl."

He was grinning, laughing as he answered. "Yes. Yes, a boy and a girl."

* * *

The twins were cleaned up while Dixie was wheeled into the recovery room. She was exausted, but more than anything she wanted to hold her babies. Two nurses brought the twins into the room, placing their daughter in Kel's arms and their son in Dixie's.

"Do they have names yet?" one of the nurses asked.

Dixie looked at her husband. They had been discussing first names, so those were set. Middle names, however, she knew she was taking a chance on when she said, "Andrew Joseph Brackett and Abigail Ann Brackett."

Judging from the smile on Kel's face, she knew she had made the right desicion. It just seemed right, she thought, for their children to have their middle names. The nurses left, grinning, to tell the ER staff that the babies had been born.

After giving the new parents plenty of time to hold their children, the nurses returned. Dixie was rather unwilling to relinquish her daughter, but she was also exausted. Finally she allowed the nurses to take them to the nursery, after making them promise to bring them up first thing in the morning.

When the twins were sent down to the nursery, Dixie was moved from the recovery room to a private room. She fell asleep fast, and then Kel snuck out to show his children to Joe Early and Mike Morton.

It so happened that Roy and John were off shift and had come over to Rampart to say hi, and were in Emergency when Kel came down to find Joe. They knew that Dixie was due, and were hoping to find a baby when they came to visit. They weren't disappointed. Joe had told them as soon as they showed up. The ER was quiet, and Kel found Joe, Mike, Roy, and John all in the staff room with coffee.

"Did you guys hear?" he couldn't hide his smile.

"A girl," Roy guessed. They had all heard that the "baby" had been born, but the nurse had neglected to mention to Joe that the "baby" was actually _babies_.

"Better than that," Kel answered. "Want to guess?"

"No!" Johnny was not the patient type. "Tell us, doc!"

"Twins," the word slipped, barely audible, from his lips.

'"No," Joe was shocked. "Really?"

"Really," Kel was grinning from ear to ear. "A boy and a girl."

"Can we see them?" Mike asked.

"Come on," Kel gestured as he walked out the door.

"There they are," he says, pointing to his little ones.

"They're beautiful, doc," Roy says, smiling. "Are they named yet?"

"Yep," he answered. "Joe, Mike, John, and Roy, meet Andrew Joseph and Abigail Ann Brackett."

 _The End_


End file.
